“Regretting the fact you can’t kill me?” he said. “You could, but I haven’t done anything to warrant it, and you need a good reason, don’t you, Pamela? Well, maybe not good. You haven’t quite sold me on your motivation for conspiring to kill James Morgan. I suspect a large part of that was just the opportunity to frame Gabriel. Which, between you and me?” He leaned closer. “Puts you squarely in my bad books. You’ll understand that, though. Paternal instinct can be just as strong as maternal.”

“Pater…?” She trailed off and then curled her lip. “You’re Gabriel’s father.” A contemptuous snort. “I knew there was more than a few drops of fae blood in him.”

“Much more. Almost as much combined fae as is in your daughter, with her fae and Cŵn Annwn blood.”

“The Cŵn Annwn are not fae.”

“They are, too, but we won’t debate that. I will only say that if you go after my son again, I will crush you.”

“I won’t. I’ve already promised Eden that.”

He smiled. “Excellent. Liv looks out for Gabriel, as much as he looks out for her. He jumped off a bridge for her. You know that, don’t you?”

“I know he fell off one, but I’m sure he’s telling a very different story. And if he did jump? Well, her trust fund wouldn’t have paid out if she died before her birthday.”

“Pamela, Pamela, Pamela. You are a bright woman. As clever as your daughter and even more underhanded. Yet when you sing that particular song, you seem as foolish and thickheaded as the woman you’ve come to kill.”

“I don’t know what—”

“No time,” he said. “Liv and Gabriel are coming to stop you, and having been in a car with my son, one cannot presume normal travel times. We must hurry. You’re here to kill Seanna. But you’ll never get to her without help. That’s why I’m here. To make sure you can do it. And make sure you get away with it.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

I burst through the front doors of the apartment building. Grace and Pepper stood just inside, deep in conversation.

“Where’s Seanna?” I said.

“Right where you left her,” Grace said. “What’s the emergency-of-the-moment?”

“Didn’t Patrick—?” I bit that off as I strode to the stairwell, Grace and Pepper following. “Patrick didn’t talk to you, did he? Has he even been here? Damn him. If he’s sitting on his ass, thinking I’m overreacting…”

“Where’s Gwy—Gabriel?” Pepper asked as I pushed through the stairwell door.